


depending on where you began the story, it was about a promise

by AmeliaDunnoWhat



Category: Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga), Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Memory Loss, Multi, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, minor character death but it’s just Niall, raven cycle fruits basket au, will adjust trigger warnings as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-01-11 19:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18431006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmeliaDunnoWhat/pseuds/AmeliaDunnoWhat
Summary: When Ronan Lynch flees the wreckage of his life to squat in an abandoned factory, the person he least expects to gain as a roommate is Richard Gansey, but when Gansey decides to renovate Monmouth Manufacturing as his own personal palace, Ronan finds himself gaining just that. Things are immediately complicated by the arrival of his elder brother who he hasn't spoken to in a year.





	1. Ronan Lynch is a Rat Bastard

Morning light filtered in weakly through the grimy windows of an abandoned factory and Ronan C. Lynch roused. He fumbled with the zipper of his sleeping bag, feeling sticky with sweat and he sighed as the cool morning air hit his skin. It had only been a few weeks since he started squatting here, cooking his meals on a camp stove and showering in the boys locker room at school, but it had been long enough to know he’d be comfortable doing it for however long it took to find a part-time job and a proper apartment. 

He dressed and tucked away his things into an old metal cabinet he had cleaned out when he first set up camp. He checked his watch; still plenty of time before school started. Ronan decided he would go for a morning drive before school, but before he could sling his bag over his shoulder Ronan heard a car pull in front of the factory and froze. He waited a moment to see if he would hear it driving away again, but instead, he heard a car door open and footsteps approaching. Had someone seen his comings and goings and called the police? Had someone from the family come to drag him back? The door creaked open and Ronan couldn’t bring himself to turn around. 

“Ronan Lynch, is that you?” a voice called out and Ronan turned.

Before him stood Richard Gansey for reasons he didn’t understand. Richard Gansey was a boy from his class who had transferred the same year he had, someone generally well-liked, known for his charms, good looks and wealth. Ronan couldn’t imagine as to why he would be skulking around abandoned warehouses on a Friday morning. 

“I see it is! What, may I ask, brings you here this morning?” Gansey said, clearly as surprised to see Ronan as he was to see him.

“Exploring. I had time to kill before school,” Ronan hoped he didn’t seem too suspicious. “I should probably get going.”

“Well, I ought to go as well, if that’s the case!” Gansey said, but he wasn’t looking at Ronan. He was walking around the factory, looking around like he was sizing it up. He clapped his hands and headed back out. Ronan stayed back for a moment until he headed the sound of Gansey’s car door closing and then followed him outside.

If Ronan was being honest with himself, he remembered Gansey’s car better than he remembers Gansey himself. Gansey drove a horribly orange, sputtering, 1973 Camaro. The Camaro, presently, was failing to start. Ronan watched for a few minutes as Gansey struggled to rev the engine to life while the car staunchly refused to start. Ronan approached the driver side window and knocked on it with his knuckles. Gansey rolled it down. 

“Do you want me to give you a lift to school?” Ronan asked. 

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

Ronan replied by jerking his chin to his own car and fishing his keys out of his pocket. They drove to school.

 

\--------

 

Gansey dropped onto the bench between Adam and Noah, “good news!” he said.

Adam glanced to him, “have you finally caught the zodiac killer?”

“Zodiac curse, Adam, and no, I’m set to start renovations on Monmouth today!”

“I still can’t believe you’re moving into that creepy place, I’m telling you, I’ve been picking up some seriously weird energies from it,” Noah interjected. 

“I still can’t believe you’re moving into an abandoned factory when you could just rent an apartment like a sane human being,” Adam said, “you could even rent a house if you really felt like it Gansey.”

“I really think this place is great guys, it’s got so much potential-”

“Potential for weird stuff, the energy it’s got is weird…” Noah trailed off and glanced to the door of the cafeteria, where Ronan Lynch was entering being flocked by admirers, “speaking of weird energy, I heard Ronan gave you a ride to school today. What’s that about?”

“Oh, I was stopping by Monmouth this morning just to look around and I ran into him. The pig broke down so he gave me a lift.”

“What was Ronan Lynch doing wandering around an abandoned factory?” Adam asked, saying the name with pronounced distaste. 

“He said he was exploring.”

“Not to lend too much credibility to Noah’s vibes, but he’s right about there being something weird about that guy,” Adam said.

“Hey!” Noah slunk his arm around Gansey to poke Adam.

Gansey thought that Adam was just jealous of Ronan but thought better than to say it out loud. Ronan had transferred to Mountain View high at the beginning of this year just like Gansey, and his brusque demeanor and good looks had made him an instant bad boy heartthrob. He had this intrinsic magnetism that was hard to put a finger on. Gansey had noticed it himself as he rode in the passenger seat of his car this morning. There was just something about him.

 

\-------

 

Gansey had died as a child. He couldn’t remember it well, he had been playing in a park with some other kids, or maybe it wasn’t a park and it was the woods, or maybe it was someone’s yard, he couldn’t say. He had been outside, certainly. He remembered straying from the other kids, maybe it had been part of a game, maybe he had seen something in the distance that he wanted, maybe some kid had been mean to him and he ran away. No matter the reason, Gansey had wandered off on his own and he stepped on a beehive in a rotten log. Gansey was, is, allergic to bees.

Here is was Gansey did remember, what he couldn’t forget. The feeling of insects legs covering his body. The heat of a thousand stings. A sensation like he was drifting away. A voice, warm and clear. 

It said, “Save my family. It is too late for me but not for them. Release them from the zodiac.”

 

\---------

 

Gansey found Ronan by his locker after school, backlit by the evening sun, a silhouette of sharp angles, “Do you mind giving me a ride back to my car?” he asked. 

Ronan tilted his head back. He seemed wary, but he dropped his shoulders and said “Okay.”

“Thanks, man!” Gansey said brightly.

Gansey thought Ronan’s car looked just like he did, a fearsome old BMW whose shiny black lacquer that had turned into a furnace in the summer sun. Gansey watched Ronan grimace at the heat and crank the AC the second after he started the car and Gansey reached out his arm and held the back of his hand in front of the vent, feeling as the air transitioned from hot to cool. 

What Gansey found more suffocating than the heat, however, was the silence. Ronan kept his eyes fixed intensely on the road, a scowl furrowing his brow and his shoulders raised like hackles. Luckily for Gansey, he already had a foolproof icebreaker.

“Have you ever heard the story of the Chinese zodiac?”

The car swerved and the seat belt pulled hard against Gansey’s chest. 

“Sorry,” Ronan said tightly, “squirrel.”

“No worries.”

Ronan drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, “So, are you asking me because I’m Chinese or something? You wanna ask me about Celtic folktales next, or is it just the Asian half that interests you?”

Gansey felt his ears turn pink, “Ah, no, I know I don’t look it but I’m a quarter Japanese on my mom’s side, she told me the story growing up,” Gansey glanced at Ronan but he didn’t look any less angry. Gansey pressed on, “it’s a sad story, my heart always went out to the poor cat.”

Ronan’s face suddenly went dark, “Who gives a fuck about the cat.”

“Not a cat person?” Gansey hoped his anxiety wasn’t showing in his voice.

“No.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence. 

 

\----------

 

Of all the strange things Richard Gansey had to bring up, he brought up the fucking zodiac. Ronan had been surprised to know that Gansey was Japanese but the fact that he had brought it up so suddenly made him itch all over. When he pulled into the weedy lot in front of the factory he couldn’t get out of the car fast enough.

Gansey thanked him and Ronan nodded in reply. He went to lean his back against the sun-warmed brick of the factory and watch as Gansey popped open the hood to his car and assess the damage. It was only a few minutes of poking around before he dropped his head in exasperation and pulled out his cell phone. A few minutes more of futzing with the car with his cell phone held between his ear and his shoulder and then he shut the hood and got in his car. It roared to life triumphantly.

Ronan raised a thumbs up and an eyebrow, you good?

Gansey beamed and raised his own, I’m good. 

Ronan watched as Gansey’s orange Camaro disappeared into the distance and let out a long breath. He climbed back in his car. 

Ronan had homework to do but the whole interaction with Gansey had left him feeling like a caged animal. He needed miles over the speed limit and mountain air. So he leaned into the gas pedal and rolled down the windows of the BMW. He felt the knots of tension in his neck unfurl. It was probably just a weird coincidence Gansey brought up the zodiac, or maybe he was trying to connect more with his Asian heritage or some shit. 

By the time Ronan had finished cruising through mountain highways and pulled back into the factory, he had calmed down. Unfortunately, this calm was immediately shattered because the Camaro was back, parked right in front of the building. As was an unfamiliar pickup truck. 

“What the fuck does he want now,” Ronan grumbled and marched into the factory, “oh shit.”

There was a small team of men all in the factory, cleaning it out and assessing it. Sweeping out the trash and debris from the parts Ronan hadn’t gotten around to yet, running measuring tape along the walls and making notes on clipboards overfull with papers. But what was worse is that Gansey was standing in front of the cabinet Ronan stored all his stuff in when he was gone. The cabinet was wide open and on display was his duffle bag with his clothes stuffed inside, a sleeping back compressed in its stuff sack, his camp stove, a plastic box of instant noodles. Gansey took a step forward and reached toward the cabinet.

“Don’t,” Ronan growled, “it’s mine.”

 

\------

 

Gansey turned around. Before him stood Ronan Lynch, prince of Mountain View, looking stricken in the dusty old factory. He moved to step towards Ronan but Ronan had already brushed past his shoulder and started shoving his things into the duffle bag. 

“Wait, Ronan, you don’t need to—” 

But Ronan was back up and walking away from him without a word. It hadn’t been hard to put together to whom the contents of the cabinet belonged to when he first found them. It explained why he had found Ronan here this morning. The instant he had opened the cabinet he immediately felt guilty for buying Monmouth. Then he had an idea. Ronan was almost out the door.

“Ronan!” Gansey called, but Ronan was still moving, “Ronan, I have a proposition for you!” 

Ronan paused. Good. 

“Would you be interested in being my roommate?”

“What?” Ronan turned to face him.

“I bought this place and I’m renovating it to live in. If you’d help me out with renovations I’d offer you a room. It’s not much but it’s…” Gansey trailed off, he was going to say better than being homeless, but he held his tongue, “It’s a place to stay.”

Ronan narrowed his eyes, looking pensive or annoyed, it was hard to tell on his face, “My house burned down. I was staying here until it was repaired.”

A strange place to stay, Gansey thought, “My offer still stands, even if it’s temporary.”

“You sure?”

Gansey stretched out an open hand.

Ronan clasped it.

They shook.

“Excellent!” Gansey said, “let’s get to work!”

 

\------

 

So they did. Gansey filled Ronan in on everything he was planning to have done to the place, and then they were off. Tearing out everything that was rotted, clearing out rusty metal by the wheelbarrow, chipping crusted fiberglass off the floor. It was gross, hard, sweaty work but Ronan took to it with gusto and by the time Gansey sent home the team of people he hired to help him flip it, it looked leagues better. Gansey had even hauled in a bed and set it up in the middle of the room upstairs and Ronan had set up shop in one of the two smaller ones. Gansey ordered pizza and they both sat cross-legged on the floor devouring it. 

“Thanks,” Ronan muttered through a mouthful of pizza.

“For what?” Gansey’s bangs were plastered to his forehead with sweat and he had changed out of his school uniform into a t-shirt and jeans. Ronan still had a hard time processing that Gansey owned a t-shirt and jeans.

Ronan scowled and said, “For letting me stay here.”

“It’s an awfully big place to live alone.” 

Ronan looked away from Gansey and at the expanse of what Gansey had informed him, incredulous that Ronan hadn’t noticed the faded paint on side of the building, was called Monmouth Manufacturing. He watched the dust motes settle in the air. 

“It is empty as fuck,” he shrugged. 

“That’s one way to put it,” Gansey laughed and they ate a while longer in silence. 

This time, in a softer voice Gansey said, “I’m sorry your house burned down.”

Ronan scuffed the heel of his boot against the ground. For reasons he couldn’t name, Ronan almost told Gansey that what he lost in the fire wasn’t just his house or his things. He wanted to tell Gansey that his father burned down with it. 

Ronan watched Gansey study him with his grime smudged face, trying to gauge what he was thinking. Gansey must pity him, some homeless weirdo with no friends, But Gansey’s eyes didn’t betray pity, Gansey was staring him down with some strange mixture of inquisition and compassion. It made Ronan want to grab his duffle bag and run. 

He heard the sound of a door being kicked open downstairs and Ronan and Gansey both jumped.

“RONAN CHENG LYNCH!” a voice boomed.

Ronan saw red.

 

\-------

 

Ronan was sprinting downstairs faster than Gansey could follow. He was practically flying. Gansey didn’t recognize the voice of whoever it was that shouted and by the time Gansey stumbled downstairs, Ronan was already stalking towards him.

“What the FUCK do you think you’re doing here,” Ronan spat. 

“Oh, I think you should be the one answering that question, Ronan,” the person speaking was a boy who bore a striking resemblance to Ronan. He was tall with sharp features and carefully styled thick black hair. “Do you have any idea how much of an idiot you are? You really thought you could just tell the family that you’re staying with a friend from school and just run off to go squat in some run down old warehouse? You really thought this shit was foolproof? That we weren’t going to find out?”

The two boys were circling closer to each other. Ronan looked murderous.

“You are so unbelievably lucky Maura called me and was willing to keep this under wraps. Do you have any what would happen if—”

Before he could finish Ronan lunged and suddenly they became a flurry of fists and knees and elbows.

“Hey!” Gansey yelled but they didn’t seem to hear him. 

Gansey came up behind the boy that looked like Ronan, grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled. There was a puff of smoke and suddenly the weight Gansey was holding onto disappeared and he fell on his ass. 

The smoke cleared and the boy had vanished. In Gansey’s hands, he held a cat.

“A cat?” Gansey said weakly, holding the cat up to his face. 

“Goddamnit, Declan!” Ronan yelled and stomped his foot on the ground. 

“Ronan, it appears the boy you were fighting turned into a cat,” Gansey tried to stand up but his foot got tangled in the pile of clothing on the floor and he tripped into Ronan.

There was another puff of smoke. Where Ronan Lynch had previously been there was now a rather angry looking rat. 

This will be interesting, thought Gansey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello!
> 
> It has been.... quite some time since I have published fanfiction so thank you for indulging me. For the time being, I am going to attempt to update this fic in between episodes of the 2019 anime for as long as that is sustainable, meaning lots of short chapters. Eventually, the plot of this fic will have to diverge from the plot of the show and idk what that will mean for the update schedule but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
> 
> big thank you to sophelstien on tumblr for beta reading and also to lynchbrothers for letting me bounce my 8000 ideas off you!!


	2. Cursed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gansey was in a unique position, physically and emotionally. Physically, Gansey was collapsed on his knees, a black cat held in his arms and a rat on the floor in front of him. The rat used to be his classmate Ronan Lynch, and the cat an angry intruder of a similar appearance. Emotionally, he was concerned for the cat and the rat, but he could still feel the burgeoning excitement that he had possibly just made the biggest breakthrough in his quest so far.

Gansey was in a unique position, physically and emotionally. Physically, Gansey was collapsed on his knees, a black cat held in his arms and a rat on the floor in front of him. The rat used to be his classmate Ronan Lynch, and the cat an angry intruder of a similar appearance. Emotionally, he was concerned for the cat and the rat, but he could still feel the burgeoning excitement that he had possibly just made the biggest breakthrough in his quest so far. 

“Are… Are you two okay?” Gansey asked. 

Gansey heard the door creak open behind him and whipped around to find one of the construction workers had returned. “Sorry to disturb, Mr. Gansey, I forgot my keys.”

Gansey blinked. “Ah, that is quite alright. Also, it’s just Gansey.”

“Right, sorry. That’s a cute cat you have.”

“Oh, this isn’t my cat,” Gansey said, absentmindedly scratching the cat between the ears and causing him to wriggle out of his arms.

“Uh, okay. Have a good evening,” the man said.

“You as well!”

Gansey, the rat and the cat watched as the door clicked shut before the cat started stalking towards the rat, fur on end. 

“Oh, brilliant job, Ronan, this is turning out great,” the cat hissed.

“Oh, so you can speak like this?” Gansey asked pleasantly.

“‘Brilliant job, Ronan’? I’m not the dumbshit that let himself get transformed! How many years of martial arts training, and you let some dude get the jump on you?”

“Oh, don’t you dare try to shift the blame to me. If you had just stayed with Maura like everyone planned, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Now I’m going to have to tell the family; you know that, right?”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Ronan said bearing his teeth and lashing his tail against the ground. 

“Would either of you be so kind as to explain what’s going on?” Gansey interjected.

The cat twitched the tip of his tail. “Go ahead, Ronan, tell your friend what’s happening.”

“Why bother, if you’re just going to go running back to the family and have his memory erased?”

“My memory erased?” Gansey felt his stomach sink.

“Listen, I don’t care for it either, but we can’t just have random teenagers knowing about the family secret. Now stop being a dick and explain yourself to your friend.” The cat sat down and wrapped his tail neatly around his paws. 

Ronan lashed his tail. “Fine.” He sat back on his haunches and looked up at Gansey. “I’m cursed. He’s cursed. Our whole fucking family has been cursed for generations. If someone who isn’t cursed hugs us, we turn into the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac.”

Gansey glanced at the cat. “What about the cat? The cat isn’t technically a zodiac animal.”

“Yeah, someone gets possessed with the cat spirit every few generations too.”

The cat looked up at Gansey. “I’m Declan Lynch, Ronan’s older brother.” He looked back to Ronan. “We may want to go somewhere private as we should change back—”

There was another explosion of smoke, and Ronan and Declan ceased being animals. Gansey politely faced the other direction while they redressed. 

“Sorry,” Declan said. “We never know how long it is before we change back.”

Back in their human forms, Ronan and Declan seemed just as bristly as they had before. They stood several feet apart, deliberately not looking at each other. Ronan was flexing his fingers in and out of fists, and Declan was gently pressing his hand against a bruise forming on his face.

There were many tellings of the Chinese zodiac folktale, but the one Gansey had grown up with had been about a race. The prize was a place on the Jade Emperor’s zodiac calendar. In the story, the rat and the cat are best friends, preparing for the race together. But when the day of the race came, in every version, the rat tricks the cat. In some versions it is an honest mistake, the rat waking so excited to start the race that he forgets to wake up his friend and the cat oversleeps. In most versions, it is a calculated deception. When the race brings the animals to a river, the rat and the cat, weak swimmers, ask the ox to ride on his back. The kind hearted ox always obliges. When the cat leans over to hungrily watch the fish as they swim by, the rat pushes the cat in. The rat then quietly rides the ox to the finish line, hopping off just in time to land in front of him, snatching first place. In some versions, the cat drowns; in some, he straggles to shore and arrives to see that all twelve spots have already been taken. 

Gansey cried when his mother first told him the story, back when he was young enough that he was allowed to cry at things like that. He asked his mother if the cat was still alone. She told him, “Yes, and that’s why cats and rats still don’t get along.”

Gansey stared at the brothers, shadow images of each other, and wondered, what was the betrayal here? Had the original betrayal from the story worked itself bone deep, woven itself into their DNA? Gansey watched as Ronan touched his finger to his lip and it came away red. 

“I’m going out,” Ronan said, and was out the door before Declan or Gansey could protest.

Gansey was left with Declan, who stood in a rumpled suit with his once neatly gelled hair askew and a bruise purpling his cheekbone. 

“I don’t think I’ve had the chance to introduce myself to you yet. I’m Gansey.” Gansey extended his hand. 

“I have to make a phone call,” Declan said, and disappeared into one of the smaller rooms. 

Gansey dropped his hand, feeling somewhat dejected. It was rare that he found himself so immediately disliked by someone he'd just met. Especially by the apparent spirit of his favorite character from a childhood folktale. Still, snubbing aside, Gansey was brimming with excitement. This was it. He went to his bag and dug out his thick leather notebook,letting it fall open in his lap. Clippings from newspapers and tabloid magazines of people claiming to see someone transform into animal. Flip. Obscure historical accounts of a family that had been driven out of a small Chinese village for being cursed. Flip. A strange telling of the zodiac tale that he hadn’t been able to find anywhere else except in a small dusty book in a Charlottesville public library. This version of the story involved the spirits of the zodiac possessing people throughout the generations. Flip. A map of every strange animal transformation sighting for the past 50 years with a star around Henrietta, VA, last sighting 2004. Breakthrough. Eureka. He had done it. He had found the curse. Now, he just had to keeping remembering that he had found the curse.

Gansey heard Declan’s voice from the other room, and he didn’t try particularly hard not to eavesdrop. 

“Yeah, I found him… Apparently, Ronan was being more idiotic than I thought… Some classmate of his saw… Yeah, I know… I just want to get this taken care of as soon as possible…”

Declan hung up and stepped back outside. Gansey smiled nervously but was met with a hostile glare. 

“I don’t know what martyr complex you have that motivates you to take in homeless orphans, but for your own good, you should stay away from my family.”

Gansey’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know he was an orphan. He told me your house had burned down.”

“His house did burn down, but what Ronan neglected to mention is that our father was inside of it. Now, please, stay out of my life,” Declan sneered.

Gansey felt the weight of the notebook sitting in his lap. He remembered the voice he heard as he died. Oddly enough, another tug of resistance Gansey felt was that it seemed an awful shame to forget meeting Ronan Lynch. But first and foremost, Gansey had lived again for a reason; he had a purpose to serve, and Declan Lynch was already almost out the door. 

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Gansey called to him. “I’m not going to stay out of this.”

Declan gripped the doorframe. “I get that you’re probably obsessed with Ronan or whatever. It’s not the first time it’s happened. So, good luck with that.”

Gansey got up off the floor and dusted himself off. “The cat was always my favorite, actually.”

Declan spun around and marched towards Gansey, “I don’t know what your problem is.” Declan had gotten uncomfortably close and was glaring down at him, “this isn’t some game—” Declan made a choking sound and suddenly he was hoisted away by the back of his collar. 

Ronan had returned and was now unceremoniously dragging a flailing Declan away from Gansey. He took Declan by his shoulders and threw him bodily out the door. Ronan slammed the door behind him. 

“I’ll move my shit out,” he said.

“What for?”

Ronan glowered at Gansey and went upstairs. 

Gansey chased after him. “Really, Ronan! What for?” 

Ronan hadn’t yet unpacked his things from when he’d first brought them up to his room, so all he had to do was sling his duffle bag over his shoulder and he was already slipping past Gansey. Without thinking, Gansey grabbed him, and Ronan dropped to the floor, a rat once again. Gansey scrambled, apologizing profusely. 

“Well, here’s your answer,” Ronan said.

“My answer?” 

“Most people don’t want a rat for a roommate.”

“Ronan, I’m not going to call pest control on you.”

Ronan lashed his tail. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I really don’t mind. Stay here, unless you would really rather go somewhere else.”

Ronan, fur all on end, deflated slightly. Gansey closed his eyes this time when the smoke plumed around Ronan. When he opened them, Ronan was standing, shoulders slack, dressed hastily. If Gansey were to hazard a guess at his expression, he looked almost sad. 

“I’ll stay. I don’t know how much longer Kavinsky will let me.” His brows pinched. “Declan is probably running back to the Cheng’s now to tell everyone what happened. You’ll probably have your memories suppressed. We don’t get a say in the matter.”

“Kavinsky?” Gansey’s stomach churned; he had finally found the zodiac curse, after years of searching, and the threat of his memories being lost loomed over him. 

“The head of our family. He gets to make the call on who knows what.”

“And everyone just goes along with it? Forgive me for being presumptuous, but you don’t seem the type with much respect for authority.”

“This is different.” 

“How so?”

“It just is!” Ronan snapped. 

“I’m sorry,” Gansey felt a twinge of guilt for upsetting him. “I can understand why your family would be so protective of this information. But, Ronan?”

“What?”

“If they do decide to suppress my memories, don’t be a stranger.”

There was a pause. Both boys stood there, in the expanse of Monmouth Manufacturing, barren except for Gansey’s bed and the handful of things he had brought with him. The room was lit only by a few battery-powered lanterns and the glow of the streetlamps filtering in through the window. 

“We are classmates after all,” Gansey said. “I think we should be friends.”

Ronan scrubbed at the back of his head, eyes cast nowhere in particular. He looked to Gansey, his face a bit softer around the edges. “Yeah, okay. You’re gonna need help making this place into less of a shithole anyway.” 

Gansey grinned. “I can’t deny that.”

\--------

Maura Cheng punched in the code to unlock the gates to the Cheng estate. She felt like ripping her hair out. She was relieved that Ronan had been found, but the fact that Kavinsky had decided to bring Declan home to track him down put her on edge. The problem was Ronan had been squatting in an abandoned warehouse with an outsider, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the outsider had found out about the curse. 

The main house loomed in front of her. It was a massive old brick mansion that the family had bought a few generations ago when they came to Virginia. Of course, since then, more houses had been erected, more properties in the area purchased, until the sprawling Cheng family had been quietly settled into Henrietta and the surrounding towns. But the main house was still the heart of it.

She sympathized with Ronan’s disappearing act. She understood how suffocating living so near to Kavinsky could be, which was why she had left the estate for Fox Way herself. The destruction of his life was as good an opportunity as any to cut himself loose. She had offered him a place to stay with her at Fox Way– It was crowded, but they’d make room. He had instead said something vague about staying with a friend from school and vanished without a trace. 

She let herself into the main house, knocking on the the doorframe. It was quiet, at least. Maura headed to the living room, trailing her hand along the wall, ears pricked. She saw a socked foot resting on the back of a couch.

“Kavinsky? It’s Maura,” she called. No response. “I have an update from Declan. He found Ronan.”

The foot dropped and Kavinsky’s head rose up, bleached hair mussed and sunglasses sliding down his nose. “So, where is he?”

“He’s living with a classmate in an abandoned factory.”

“Where is he now?” Kavinsky pushed his sunglasses up.

“Still at the warehouse.”

Kavinsky slumped back down onto the couch. “Useless cat.”

Maura hesitated. “The classmate that Ronan is living with, he found out about the curse.”

“And he’s still letting Ronan stay with him?”

“To my knowledge, yes.”

Kavinsky staggered to his feet, one strap of his grimy tank top sliding off his shoulder. Maura noticed an empty bottle of cognac on the ground and braced herself. 

“Well, this is interesting,” Kavinsky said in a sloppy staccato, pausing between each syllable. “It sounds like someone’s stolen away my favorite pet.”

He stumbled over to Maura and swung his hands onto her shoulders. “What am I gonna do about this? Ronan’s run away, some rando has found out about our curse, and the cat’s back in town.”

“I think this could be good for Ronan,” Maura suggested.

Kavinsky narrowed his eyes for a moment and Maura steeled herself, but then a broad smile cracked across his face. This would be worse. “You know, Maura, I think letting Declan stray so far from my sight was a mistake. Who knows what kind of trouble he could have been causing away at boarding school for the past few years. I think I should keep him closer to home.”

This was worse. 

\---------

Ronan did not care for school. While he had had to argue and bargain and plea to be allowed to attend Mountain View, it wasn’t because he was all that gung-ho to be a high school student. Sometimes while he sat in particularly boring classes, he wondered if he had just trapped himself in a differently shaped cage. Still, it was better than attending the school every other Cheng attended, where he would live with Kavinsky’s eyes boring into the back of his head. 

Ronan liked to sit almost in the back of the classroom, far back enough he wouldn’t attract too much attention, but not near anyone liable to get rowdy and touch him. He could sit and let his thoughts wander in and out of whatever the teacher was talking about, grabbing any elusive bits of interesting information and squirreling them away. 

From the almost back of honors geometry, Ronan could see Richard Gansey, leaning over to poke his friend in the arm with the eraser of his pencil and whispering something to him, his friend suppressing a laugh. He thought about the way “don’t be a stranger” echoed in Monmouth Manufacturing, a building empty of furniture and full of possibilities. He thought about how it was probably only a matter of hours until Mr. Grey came and took that away from him. 

It wasn’t his fault, but that didn’t make Ronan resent him less for it. Mr. Grey, who carried the burden of being the family member most skilled in memory suppression, had taken things from Ronan that he couldn’t forgive him for. Not deep down, where it counted. 

Ronan could remember Kavinsky, sprawled out on his bed, his head drooping off the side of it. 

Ronan had asked him, “Why?”

Kavinsky had said, “Why? Ronan, you transform into a rat. You really think normal people could ever understand you? That they wouldn’t be afraid?” 

Gansey was now leaning over to his other friend’s desk, writing something onto his notebook and pointing out things on a calculator. His friend was bouncing his leg and scrunching his fingers through the back of his floppy yellow hair. Ronan thought about Gansey saying, “I think we should be friends.”

The bell rang, and the students emptied into the halls. Gansey waved to Ronan on the way out, and Ronan nodded back. From the hall, he heard one of Gansey’s friends say, “Since when do you wave to Ronan Lynch?” and the other one say in a sing -songy voice, “Weeeiird energiiies.”

_You really think normal people could understand you? That they wouldn’t be afraid?_

Ronan needed some air. He sped down the hallway, slipping and weaving around people without so much as rubbing shoulders. He thought about Mr. Grey pressing his dry palm over Gansey’s eyes. He almost walked into the principal's office door as it opened. 

As if everything weren’t already bad enough, out of the office stepped Declan Lynch. 

Declan was clasping hands with the principal, a slippery smile plastered across his face. “I look forward to seeing you around, Dr. Krygier.” Declan noticed Ronan out of the corner of his eye and his smile twitched.

Dr. Krygier noticed Ronan as well and attempted a smile. “Mr. Lynch, I wasn’t aware you had a brother.”

Ronan didn’t know how to respond to that so he didn’t. Dr. Krygier nodded to the both of them and returned to his office. 

“So, are you here to transfer me out of this school?” Ronan asked. 

Declan sighed. “Unfortunately, Ronan, I am here to transfer myself in.”

“Is this supposed to be a joke?”

“Kavinsky’s orders.”

Ronan used one arm to slam Declan hard against the lockers and then he strode down the hallway and out of the building. Outside the fresh air failed to help him feel like he could breathe. Ronan had been an idiot to think that being dragged back home would be sufficient punishment for his disappearing act. He should’ve figured it out earlier. Dragging Declan home after a year of exile just to track him down was like using a gun as a holepunch; of course Kavinsky had bigger plans for him. Ronan wondered how far he could drive into the mountains before he ran out of gas and died of exposure, or worse, someone found him again. 

He scanned the parking lot for his car, and his stomach twisted when he found it parked next to the beaming orange Camaro. 

_Don’t be a stranger._

Ronan pressed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. 

\-----------

Noah was midway through pitching his most recent idea, edible Silly Bandz (remember Silly Bandz? Those were the shit, guys! I had like three hundred of them, I think I know how we can bring them back) when Gansey spotted Declan Lynch down the hall.

“That sounds great, Noah, but I just remembered I needed to talk to Mr. Riviera about that essay he just assigned. I’ll see you at lunch.” Gansey gave Noah a two fingered salute and bounced off after Declan. 

“Isn’t Mr. Riviera’s classroom in the other direction?” Noah asked but Gansey was already lost amongst the throng of high schoolers. 

Gansey quickly caught up to Declan and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Declan!”

Declan slid away from Gansey’s hand. “Gansey, right? I need to talk to you.” 

“Oh?” Gansey gestured to an empty classroom. “In private, I assume.”

“Excellent deduction,” Declan said wryly and stepped into the classroom. “I… apologize if I was rude to you yesterday.” 

“No worries,” Gansey said.

Declan pinched the bridge of his nose. “So, here is the situation with Ronan and your memories.” He looked up wearily. From this distance Gansey noticed the discolored splotch on his cheek; makeup over a bruise. “I came here today to transfer into this school. Starting tomorrow, I will be your classmate.”

Gansey squirmed for a moment, thinking about what this might mean for the frequency of fights at Mountain View. “Oh? I look forward to seeing you then, but how is this related to the situation?”

Declan pressed his eyes shut for a moment before answering. “For reasons beyond my understanding, our family has decided to trust you. If you agree to keep our curse a secret, we will leave your memories unaltered and Ronan will be allowed to continue staying with you. But there is one more condition. Because of the recent trauma my brother has experienced and his rash actions, I would have to move in with you as well to keep watch over him.”

The mixture of relief that his memories would be left intact and the excitement of another member of the zodiac moving in with him was enough to render Gansey speechless for a few moments. A small thought prickled at the back of his mind telling him that Ronan would hate this. Curses aside, this seemed like a strange arrangement. 

“I don’t mean to be rude, but didn’t you experience the same recent trauma as your brother? Are you his legal guardian? You don’t seem much older than us.”

“If it were up to me, we would just wipe your memories and I would go back to boarding school,” Declan snapped.

Gansey put his hands up. “Understood. I’d like to keep my memories, and I do have an extra room. When would you like to move in?” Gansey wondered if this was blackmail. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to live with two members of the zodiac, but it still might be blackmail. 

“Tonight.”

“I have lacrosse practice after school today, so I won’t be back until around seven. I suppose I’ll see you then.” Gansey clapped Declan on the shoulder, Declan grimaced, and then Gansey slid from the classroom.

\---------

Declan was lying on his back on the porch of 300 Fox Way, his feet resting on the lower steps. He could hear the hustling and bustling typical of Fox Way from the inside. Declan could faintly hear Blue yelling at someone for bumping into her and making her transform. The door creaked open and Orla stepped out. 

“Ugh,” she said, stepping around his head. “Maura! Declan is on our porch! I think he wants something!”

“I’ll be out in a minute!” Maura called. “Blue, hold still until you turn back, you’re going to break something.”

“You know if you feed a cat, it’ll keep coming back,” Calla said from somewhere in the house. Declan wished he didn’t have catlike hearing.

“Oh, hush,” Maura said. 

Declan closed his eyes and listened as Blue definitely did not hold still and several pieces of furniture were tipped over. He heard the door open again and the sound of Maura sitting down next to him on the steps. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“This is going to be a disaster.” Declan dragged his hand across his face.

“You don’t know that.”

“Maura, Ronan hates me. This freak I’m moving in with also probably hates me. I have to live in a warehouse with them.” Declan sat up to look at her. “You know this is all some sick game to punish Ronan for running away right? This was engineered to be a disaster.”

“I think this could be good for you and Ronan,” she said, her eyes gentle and pitying. It made Declan’s skin crawl.

Declan stood up. “Don’t sugarcoat this mess just because you’re not going to help me.”

Maura rubbed her temples. “Declan, I’m not trying to be nice. I think it would be good for you to go to high school and spend time with other people instead of going to boarding school,” she said boarding school in the way that made it obvious she knew it wasn’t boarding school. 

Declan grit his teeth. “Someone had to go to boarding school, that mess wasn’t going to clean itself up. It’s not like I’m done with that either.” Declan spent a moment fishing his keys out of his pocket. “I can handle boarding school if that’s what we’re calling it. I’m not meant for this sort of thing.”

“It’s worth trying,” she said. “Someday someone is going to want to be your friend, Declan; it would be worth it to try.”

He stared at Maura for a moment with a tight expression. He took a sharp breath and spun his keys around his finger. “Thanks for the tea, Maura. I should probably get going.” He chirped his car and headed towards it.

“I didn’t give you any tea!” Maura called after him. 

“I’ll tell Ronan you said hi.” He climbed into his car.

“You won’t!” Maura said to the car, as it was already driving away. She shook her head and went back inside. 

\---------

Gansey came back to Monmouth Manufacturing to find Ronan Lynch holding what appeared to some kind of rat council. Ronan was crouched near the kitchen/bathroom/laundry room-in-progress, with what looked like ten rats gathered in front of him and maybe a few mice. From across the room, Gansey could hear him saying something along the lines of, “Okay, so this room is completely off limits, I don’t want you getting into my fucking food. If you’re starving to death or some shit, just tell me and I’ll find you something to eat. Also, I have a roommate now and he probably doesn’t want to see rats scampering around his house so try and stay out of sight.”

“Ronan?” Gansey called.

Ronan whipped his head up, he had the wide eyes of a child who had just been caught stealing candy. 

“What’s… going on? With the rats?”

“I’m telling them not to eat our food,” he said.

“So, you can talk to rats? Is that part of the curse?” Gansey was slowly edging closer to the rat council. 

Ronan absent-mindedly scooped one of the rats into his hand and held it. “Yeah, we can all communicate with whatever animal we turn into. That’s it though, no more special powers really. Well, being a rat gave me asthma but that’s not a power.”

Gansey blinked. “So, are these... your friends?” He gestured to the rats.

Ronan narrowed his eyes at Gansey. “No, they just live here. Do you expect me to be friends with every rat just because I can turn into one?”

Gansey flapped his hands. “Ah, no. It’s just that you’re, you know, having a meeting with them?”

Ronan glowered at him. “Yeah, because I don’t want them chewing holes in all our socks.” 

Gansey looked down at one of the rats. It stared back at him, wringing its front paws. Gansey didn’t care for that at all. He looked back to Ronan. “Thank you for communicating that to them.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Ronan looked to the rat that had been staring at Gansey. “Don’t be an asshole.”

Gansey decided he didn’t want to know. “Anyway, Ronan, I ran into your brother at school.”

Any traces of humor evaporated from Ronan’s face and he looked down to the rat in his hands. “And?”

“He said I can keep my memories as long as I don’t tell anyone about the curse. Also, you can keep living with me as long as he lives here too,” Gansey said this gingerly, as if he were handling caustic chemicals. 

Ronan was silent for a moment. Gansey heard the sound of a car being parked outside of Monmouth Manufacturing. Ronan set the rat down on the floor and looked out at the assembly.

“Okay, new rule, all of Declan’s shit is fair game.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> This chapter was put up later than intended but also it is longer and furthermore; It's finals season for ye olde undergrad. 
> 
> Big thank you to tumblr users @wlwdeclanlynch and @sophelstein for beta reading! It was a huge help. Also, thank you to you, dear reader, for reading a fruits basket raven cycle cross over. We share a small cup of tea.


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